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WORKING WITH
VARIABLES
ELF © 2013
Excel VBA
 Concept of Variables
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 Variables are areas allocated by the computer memory to

hold data.
 Declared using the Dim command
 Example
Dim Something

 Variable Names
 The following are the rules when naming the variables in VBA
 It must be less than 255 characters
 No spacing is allowed
 It must not begin with a number
 Period is not permitted
 Concept of Variables
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 Declaring Variables
 Needs to declare the variables before using them by
assigning names and data types.
 Format syntax:
 Dim variable_name As data_type

 There are many VBA data types, which can be grossly

divided into two types:
 numericdata types
 non-numeric data types
 Data Types
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 Data Types
 The manner in which a program stores data in memory.
 The type of data a variable is classified as

 The good thing - VBA can take care of this

automatically
 The bad thing - Letting VBA handle your data typing
results in slower execution and inefficient memory use
 Data Types
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 Numeric Data Types

 Consist of numbers, which can be computed mathematically with various
standard operators such as add, minus, multiply, divide and so on.

Data Type Storage Range of Values

Byte 1 byte 0 to 255

Integer 2 bytes -32,768 to 32,767

Long 4 bytes -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,648

Single 4 bytes -3.402823E+38 to -1.401298E-45 for negative values

1.401298E-45 to 3.402823E+38 for positive values.
Double 8 bytes -1.79769313486232e+308 to -4.94065645841247E-324 for negative values
4.94065645841247E-324 to 1.79769313486232e+308 for positive values.

Currency 8 bytes -922,337,203,685,477.5808 to 922,337,203,685,477.5807

Decimal 12 bytes +/- 79,228,162,514,264,337,593,543,950,335 if no decimal is use

+/- 7.9228162514264337593543950335 (28 decimal places).
 Data Types
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 Non-numeric Data Types

 Nonnumeric data types are data that cannot be manipulated mathematically
using standard arithmetic operators.
 The non-numeric data comprises text or string data types, the Date data types,
the Boolean data types that store only two values (true or false), Object data
type and Variant data type

Data Type Storage Range of Values

String(fixed length) Length of string 1 to 65,400 characters
String(variable length) Length + 10 bytes 0 to 2 billion characters
Date 8 bytes January 1, 100 to December 31, 9999
Boolean 2 bytes True or False
Object 4 bytes Any embedded object
Variant(numeric) 16 bytes Any value as large as Double
Variant(text) Length+22 bytes Same as variable-length string
 Data Types
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 Suffixes for Literals

 Literals are values that you assign to a data. In some cases, we need to
add a suffix behind a literal so that VB can handle the calculation more
accurately
Suffix Data Type
& Long
! Single
# Double
@ Currency
 Example:
memberName = “Turban, John”
TelNumber = “1800-900-888-777”
LastDay = #31-Dec-00#
ExpTime = #12:00 am#
 Data Types
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 User-Defined Types
 createyour own data type.
 a new data type by combining the built-in data types

 Format to define a data type is

Type variable_name
Statements
End Type
 Data Types
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 User-Defined Types
 Example:
Dim group As Student
group.StuName = "James"
Type Student
group.StuID = "1007"
StuName As String
group.StuYear = "Final Year"
StuID As String
group.StuFee = "$20,000"
StuFee As Currency
Cells(2, 2) = group.StuName
StuYear As String
Cells(3, 2) = group.StuID
End Type
Cells(4, 2) = group.StuYear
Cells(5, 2) = group.StuFee
 Variables & Data Types
PRACTICAL LEARNING
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 Dim variableName as DataType

 Example
 Dim password As String
 Dim yourName As String
 Dim firstnum As Integer
 Dim secondnum As Integer
 Dim total As Integer
 Dim BirthDay As Date

 separating each variable with a comma, as follows:

 Dim password As String, yourName As String, firstnum As Integer
 Variables & Data Types
PRACTICAL LEARNING
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 Example: we declared three types of variables, namely the string, date

and currency.

Private Sub CommandButton1_Click()

Dim YourName As String
Dim BirthDay As Date
Dim Income As Currency
YourName = "Alex"
BirthDay = "1 April 1980"
Income = 1000
Range("A1") = YourName
Range("A2") = BirthDay
Range("A3") = Income
End Sub
 Variables & Data Types
PRACTICAL LEARNING
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 Using Byte Variables

Sub Variables()
Dim Shirts As Byte
Dim Pants As Byte
Dim OtherItems As Byte
Dim TotalItems As Byte

Shirts = 6
Pants = 4
OtherItems = 2
TotalItems = Shirts + Pants + OtherItems
ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = TotalItems
End Sub
 Variables & Data Types
PRACTICAL LEARNING
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 Using Decimal Variables

Sub Variables()
Dim Side As Double
Dim Perimeter As Double Side = 32.75

Perimeter = Side * 4

ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = Perimeter
End Sub
 Variables & Data Types
PRACTICAL LEARNING
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 Using a String
Sub Variables()
Dim CustomerName As String

CustomerName = "Paul Bertrand Yamaguchi"

ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = CustomerName
End Sub
 Variables & Data Types
PRACTICAL LEARNING
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 Using Currency Values

Sub Variables()
Dim NumberOfShirts As Byte
Dim PriceOneShirt As Currency
Dim TotalPriceShirts As Currency

NumberOfShirts = 5
PriceOneShirt = 1.25
TotalPriceShirts = NumberOfShirts * PriceOneShirt

ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = TotalPriceShirts
End Sub
 Variables & Data Types
PRACTICAL LEARNING
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 Using a Date

Sub Variables()
Dim DepositDate As Date
DepositDate = #2/5/2008#

ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = DepositDate
End Sub
 Use of Option Explicit
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 The use of Option Explicit

 help us to track errors in the usage of variable names within
a program code
 For example, if we commit a typo, VBE will pop up an error
message “Variable not defined”.
 It is a good practice to use Option Explicit because it will
prevent us from using incorrect variable names due to
typing errors, especially when the program gets larger.

 With the usage of Option Explicit, it will save us time in

debugging our programs.
 Use of Option Explicit
PRACTICAL LEARNING
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 Example
Option Explicit
Private Sub CommandButton1_Click()
Dim YourName As String, password As
String
YourName = "John"
password = 12345
Cells(1, 2) = YourNam
Cells(1, 3) = password
End Sub
 Assigning Values to the Variables
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 Value Assignment
 Use the assignment operator (=) followed by the value
you need to store
 The general format of an assignment is
Variable=Expression
 Example
Dim Value
Value = 100
 Arithmetic Operations
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Operator Mathematical function Example

^ Exponential 2^4=16
* Multiplication 4*3=12
/ Division 12/4=3
Mod Modulus (return the remainder 15 Mod 4=3
from an
integer division)
\ Integer Division (discards the 19\4=4
decimal places)
+ or & String concatenation "Visual"&"Basic"="Visual
Basic"
 Arithmetic Operations
PRACTICAL LEARNING
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Option Explicit
Private Sub CommandButton1_Click ()
Dim number1, number2, number3 as Single
Dim total, average as Double
number1=Cells (1, 1).Value
number2=Cells (2, 1).Value
number3= Cells (3, 1).Value
Total=number1+number2+number3
Average=Total/3
Cells (5, 1) =Total
Cells (6, 1) =Average
End Sub
 Arithmetic Operations
PRACTICAL LEARNING
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Option Explicit
Private Sub CommandButton1_Click()
Dim secondName As String, yourName As String
firstName = Cells(1,1).Value
secondName = Cells(2,1).Value
yourName = firstName + " " + secondName
Cells(3,1) = yourName
End Sub
23 Using Message box and Input box
Excel VBA
 MsgBox ( ) Function
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 MsgBox function is to produce a pop-up message box and

prompt the user to click on a command button before he or
she can continue.

 The format for a message box is as follows:

 message=MsgBox(Prompt, Style Value, Title)

 Prompt, will display the message in the message box

 Style Value determines what type of command button will
appear in the message box
 Title argument will display the title of the message board
 Message is a variable that holds values that are returned by the
MsgBox ( ) function.
 MsgBox ( ) Function
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 Style Values and Command Buttons

Style Value Named Constant
0 vbOkOnly
1 vbOkCancel
2 vbAbortRetryIgnore
3 vbYesNoCancel
4 vbYesNo
5 vbRetryCancel
Button Displayed
Ok button
Ok and Cancel buttons
Abort, Retry and Ignore buttons.
Yes, No and Cancel buttons
Yes and No buttons
Retry and Cancel buttons

 Example:
yourMsg=MsgBox( "Click OK to Proceed", 1, "Startup Menu")

yourMsg=Msg("Click OK to Proceed". vbOkCancel,"Startup Menu")

 MsgBox ( ) Function
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 Returned Values and Command Buttons

Value Named Constant Button Clicked

1 vbOk Ok button
2 vbCancel Cancel button
3 vbAbort Abort button
4 vbRetry Retry button
5 vbIgnore Ignore button
6 vbYes Yes button
7 vbNo No button
 MsgBox ( ) Function
PRACTICAL LEARNING
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Private Sub CommandButton1_Click()

Dim YourMsg As String
Cells(1, 2) = "Your first VBA program"
YourMsg = Cells(1, 2)
MsgBox YourMsg
End Sub
----------------------------------------------------
Private Sub CommandButton1_Click()
Dim YourMsg As String
Cells(1, 2) = "Your first VBA program"
YourMsg = Cells(1, 2)
MsgBox YourMsg, vbYesNoCancel
End Sub
 InputBox( ) Function
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 InputBox( ) is a function that displays an input box where the user

can enter a value or a message in the form of text.
 The format is:
 myMessage=InputBox(Prompt, Title, default_text,
x-position, y-position)

 myMessage is a variant data type but typically it is declared as a

string, which accepts the message input by the users
 Prompt - The message displayed in the inputbox.
 Title - The title of the Input Box.
 default-text - The default text that appears in the input field where
users can use it as his intended input or he may change it to another
message.
 x-position and y-position - the position or the coordinates of the input
box.
 InputBox ( ) Function
PRACTICAL LEARNING
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Private Sub CommandButton1_Click()

Dim userMsg As String
userMsg = InputBox("What is your message?",
"Message Entry Form", "Enter
your messge here", 500, 700)
Cells(1,1).Value=userMsg
End Sub
30 Exercises
Variables, Arithmetic Operators
 Simple Addition Example
PRACTICAL LEARNING
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 Excel Macro

Sub ADD_Macro()
Dim X As Integer
Dim Y As Integer

X = Sheet2.Range("A1")
Y = Sheet2.Range("A2")

Sheet2.Range("B1") = X + Y

End Sub
 Simple Addition Example
PRACTICAL LEARNING
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 Developer Form Control

Private Sub RESULT_Click()

Dim X As Integer
Dim Y As Integer

X = Val(NUM1.Text)
Y = Val(NUM2.Text)

SUM.Text = Str(X + Y)

End Sub
 Exercises
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 Create a Calculator Program which

operates addition, subtraction ,
multiplication and division between 2
numbers.
 Excel Macro (Sheet1)
 Developer Form Control
 Filename:
 02_CALCULATOR (save as Excel Macro Enable)

 Create a Weight and Height Converter

Program. kg->lbs, lbs->kg, ft->cm, cm->ft
 Excel Macro (Sheet1)
 Developer Form Control
 Filename:
 03_CONVERTER (save as Excel Macro Enable)
 Exercises
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 Revised the Calculator Program which get range of

10 values at COL A & COL B. Do operation of sum,
difference, product, quotient, average & modulus.
 Excel Macro (Sheet1)
 Developer Control
 Filename:
 04_CalcRange (save as Excel Macro Enable)

 Create a program that will get 3 set of strings

(firstname, middlename & surname) from 5 users
and display format the following format:
 Surname, Firstname Middlename
 Firstname Middlename Surname

 Excel Macro (Sheet1)

 Developer Control
 Filename:
 05_String (save as Excel Macro Enable)
 References
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 Excel® VBA Programming For Dummies®, 3rd ed.,

by John Walkenbach, © 2010
 Excel VBA Made Easy by Liew Voon Kiong © 2009
 http://www.vbtutor.net/VBA/vba_tutorial.html
 http://www.functionx.com/vbaexcel/index.htm